Mail distributing machine



July 19, 1932. H. H. MILLER ET AL 1,858,243

' MAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l 9 7FIG.) 12 4 as s 13 M M 3 39 i 1 as '35 Q: Z l t y 1932- H. H. MILLER ETAL 3 MAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Filed Oct. 18. 1927 2 Sheets-Shee 2Patented July 19, 1932 I 1,868,243

nowARn H. MILLERiAN J l or 93:0

V MAIL ms'rnxnu'rrno'Mn orrmia L i i v I i Application-filedctober'18,;192a SerialNo; 22637 81. I I This invention relatesespecially to chine designed-to distribute mail matter of views ofdetailsofethe inyentionaslshowgnin theusual letter type and size so'thatit will Eigs -lmand 2 and tak {1119911. anrwenlargped be arranged ingroups-as to cities or other scale. r

s5 convenient political subdivisions. P Such .dis-Ourinyentionnaturallyassumesiamoreibr 5Q tribution is usuallyaccomplished by a :handless cylindricalformsbecausel oi thewutiglizaprocess of actually placing each piece ofimail tionioi a large rotary. nenrb er or carrier wheel matter individually in its proper bag or con-7' which forms Ethebasis 01Eoperation-andupon tainer; it being usual tohave such bags or the rotationyof whiehithe entire machine dencontainers supported in open condition upon pends; forfitsfiunctioning--l h-i -:whee1 i are rush in the handlingof mail a 9;?- whichnecessitates the utmost accuracy invthe and bQXeS,

a raclnof convenient-size and shape to hold mounted; fon-rota-tiom in ahoriz'ontalgplane thebags sol'that they (may receive the pieces and "ispreferablydriyen bylan electrictmot of mail as a clerk tosses each pieceintothe located withingacyl-indrical casing 8 gfibQllt proper bag; c a Twhichntherehas been .placedseyenaLfiwTi 115 .An object of our inventionis to produce Qfgroups oi} ma-ilj c hute's fii illhesescjhutw .60

a machine having the smallest ipossi-blenum; eaclnlead tOyBIQhQXg=10ulI113Q=W hlQh the vmail ber of moving parts in order t o'avoidcomplidropping downthe chutes will-iall, Aatr ough cations and thepossibility of a breakdown in Qfile ter guide, lltisprovided to;hold-aistack the machine mechanism during periodsaof ofemail matter;1-2.- to; bteg deliwgeredmidis l tr u e tel cariousb xesii fl th ug t e05 A further object is'to producea machine agency of thew heel 'l andchflutes 9.,andakey which will accomplish thendistri'butionuxof Q'fld-Tmechanism, 3, h s ;bQ I1,- prov;ided. to mail as rapidly as is possiblefor .an opactuatesuitable mechanismffor efi'ecting dis; eratorito readthe addresses and ina manner tributien of-the lettersvto (theprop'erchutes correct distribution thereof. i The-wheel 7 is oi a1}diametersufficient to An additional object is toproduce'a-idispermitiofthefspaoingofas-inanygroups oftributing-machinewhich will operate with the mail chutes about; itsperiphery gas may; be

smallest possible expenditure of energy ornefcessaryordesinabletoincludeallthecities powerconsumption and-inwhich-theanoise. 00 to which naildistribution is, tobe madeir z Itcasioned by the operation ofithe machine is d'esirableto includemas manyfcities iing the negligible. Y a H l-ist to be served-asvmaybepossibleibecause These and other objects are: attainedlin the inwthismanner the =W11GBl jPQI'iPhBIy4-m& ;b

machine described in the following specificagreat enoughi toyproduce agrelatively high "tion; and :illustrated in: the accompanying surtacespeedwith but slow rotational speed. so drawings, in which: a a Ifiroupedziiaround the. wheel: periphery the ,Fig. 1 is a perspectiveyiewofa distributing mail chutes-9 are arranged pneferablytinl such machineembodying my inye'ntionn p agmanner that they are tangentiali oriatleast Fig. 2 is a fragniental plan View upon'qa substantially tangentialtherewith These slightly enlarged scale, of the machine shown chutes arepreferably of elongated rectangus5 inEig. 1. V 1 lar transuerse crosssectionall shape so that Fig. S'isa fragmenta'l plan view ofa detail theletter may enter ,the-isidef of, "each; chute of the invention shown inFigs. 1" and '2 and endwiseias'mill be explained. 1 Atthe bottomdisclosing the operatingcmechanism designed of; eaeh;chute is located aibox 10= adaptedrato to p a m Show s 2; a necei veit e mail- Th SebQXes-enezsop heped that the letters which drop down the chutes may lieflat therein and pile up one upon the other as shown in Fig. 1., In thismanner they may be quickly removed in'bunches and thus thereby permit ofbeing tied in bundles ready for the mail bag. Because of the shapes ofthe letter boxes, and the chutes bereached in such a successivelysteppedofi' re-v lation, the following group of chutes has to be startedby. placing theshortest. chute to which the highest box is attached, inspaced relation to the preceding group,because"of having to place thefirst box of the new group against the last chuteof the preceding group.Thus group after group is spaced aboutthe Wheel as shown. Thiss'pacingis accomplished by attaching the chutes and boxes to thecylindrical casing 8"in any suitable manner, and the casing is' ofsomewhat larger diameter than the wheel 7 so that an annular space isleft between it andthe periphery of the wheel. This space is for thepassage of lettersas they arecarried'by the wheel to the chutes whichare to receive them.

Suflicient space is left, preferably surrounding the wheel periphery,for the installation of the control mechanism by meansof which thedistribution ofletters to the various chutes and boxes is accomplished.This mechanism consists primarily of the keyboard device l3'and theletter guide 11, with the suitable mechanism for-affording controlfromthe keyboard and which'will be described. The chutes are eachprovidedwith a'door 14 which opens inwardly against the side of thechute as shown in Fig.- 2, as well as a guide finger 15 which preferablyis forked and slidesacross the rim of the carrierwh'eel with one fingerbranch aboveand the other finger branch below the wheel rim as alsoshown in'Fig. 2. The arrangement of the door and finger is such thatwhen the door is closed the finger is drawninto the chute, but'when thedoor is open the finger is moved across the wheel rim as shown. Themechanis'm'to accomplish'movemen of the door and finger of each chutefrom the keyboard 13, consists of the linkage shown in Fig. 3. Thisprovidesjan arm16 on the door 14 towhich a link 17 is attached. This armin turn connects with a bell crank 18. Connected directly with finger 15is a link 19'which is also connected to crank 18. By thelinkagedescribed, operation of bell crank 18 to dotted line position shownfinFig. 3,w1ll cause the finger and door to move t9 the dotted lineposition shown in Fi s. 2 and 3, while movement ofthe bell cra to fullline position will cause the door and fingerto move to the full linepositions also shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In order to operate the door andfinger of each chute there has to be provided a separate bellcrank.fEach of these bell cranks is connected in turn with a singleoperating link 20 which, with all of its fellow links provided for thesame purpose, are brought to a common grouping'as shown in Fig. 3, wherethey are connected each to the proper one of a series of bell cranks 21'and 22 for operating them. The bell cranks 21 areof an upright type andthe bell cranks 22 are of an inverted type, as shown more clearly inFig. 4. The purpose of this is to afford economy of space andarrangement of mechanism as will now be explained.

The keyboard is conveniently arranged with five slots 23 whichcorrespond to the five groups of mail chutes shown in Fig. 1, one slotbeing provided for each group of chutes. In each slot are provided eightnotches'which correspond to the eight chutes in each group about thepropelling wheel 7. 'Four of these progressively stepped back relationfrom the lowermost to the uppermost row of bell cranks. In each slot 23is mounted a key '26 which is slidable therein from end to'end and L Iwhich, when opposite or in register with any notch may be moved upwardlyor downwardly into it, depending upon which one of notches is inregister. A detent 27 on each key will engage an'end of the bell crankwhich registers with each notch so that when the key is moved to occupythe notch there will be a corresponding operation of the chute door andfinger connected with the bell crank registering with thenotchsooccupied bythe' key. It is quite obvious therefore thatany one ofthe chutes may'be'opened or closed and that letters may be directed intoany one of them by a mere movementof any one of the keys into any one ofthe notches.

V There is one important feature of the mechanism which: remains to bedescribed. This is that portion of' the 'mechanism by means of which theletters are .fed from the letter trough or guide 11 in such relationshipwith the propelling wheel 7 that they are carried by it into "the chutewhich has been opened to receive them. This mechanism is quite simpleand consists of a feeder 28 which are I tends across beneath the ends ofthe series of upright bell cranks 21, as shown inFigs. 5and 1 so thatoperation of any one of these bell cranks will operate the feeder 28.This is true of any upright bell crank in any one of the slots 23 of thekeyboard, because the elements 30, 31 and 32 are duplicated for each ofthe keyboard slots. Thereis the same provision made for each of theinverted bell cranks 22, but in this case there have been providedadditional links 33 and upright bell cranks 34 which have bars 35extending across above the inverted bell cranks 22. By this meansmovement of any one of the bell cranks 22 will cause feeder 28 to move aletter from the trough.

A feature of the trough feeding operation consists in being able to movebut one letter at a time from the pile in the trough without disturbingany of the others until ready to do so. This is accomplished by a simplemechanism consisting of the rubber tipped feeder 28 which accomplishesthe movement of the first letter from the face of the letter stack by aswinging motion which has been described and which is shown by the arrowin Fig. 5. Should two or more letters be moved simultaneously in thismanner there has been provided a friction element 36 pref justment screw37 back of it in order that proper pressure of the element against thebacks of the letters may be brought to bear. In order to facilitate thepicl:up of the wheel 7 after the fed letter has been brought to engageits surface as shown in Fig. 2, the tire or rim of the wheel haspreferably been made of a material such as rubber and may either be madetubular and inflated or of solid rubber.

Now because of the size of the machine it will be necessary to providean arrangement such as the platform 38 upon which the operators chair 39may be placed in position, before the keyboard 13. Having thus madearrangements for the operators comfort and convenience, a stack ofletters is placed in the trough II between the open front of the troughand a weighted or spring pressed follower 40 which keeps the lettersnormal- 1y moving toward the feeder 28 as they are ffed fijoinet-hestack to- 'thew-heel 2Jarui 4 aivebeen shown how the operatorrmayaeiewewha w de ra-order m e use da :nvery tih' 'lettersfiotheinpioper boxes. Each ofthe keyboard slot notclgies ga're marked inasst'iitable manner ith ch-e mmeera-re, tewn orpo'st cane-e0 Whie fth'eaeaetsymay Have to sent? "The operator iiasmer'eiy a bring aeate-retreat tea-he five keys shown, into"-p0sit iori to e-"ORPGEsite"tlle-notbh-for-thepostofiice t which-the firstletterin thestackis-toibe sentl iii-this pcsit ion-t-hegkeyi i s lnoyed into thenotch having the pro-per "post oflicedesignation. For example, in Fig.2, the top key has been moved into the notch marked CHI which is theChicago notch. This was done because the letter which is shown ready tobe carried along by the wheel 7, contained a Chicago address.

Inasmuch as the second notch is therefore engaged by the key, it is thesec- 1 letter is carried by the Wheel. This is shown in dotted lines inFig. 2. The operation through the connected bell cranks and links isquite obvious, as has been explained. As each'letter is directed intoand falls through the chute which receives it, it falls down the chutesidewise and at the bottom .of'the chute encounters a slightly curvedwall ledge 41 which throws the letter with its face up into the box 10which receives it. true of all the letters thus received by the box orany other box about the wheel, so that they are piled one upon the otherright side up and ready for quick removal and packaging.

Having thus'described the invention what we claim is:

1. A mail distributing machine comprising a carrier wheel, a series ofmail boxes arranged about the wheel in spaced relation thereto, a dooron each mail box, said doors forming a continuous wall spaced from theperiphery of the wheel and intercepting the plane of the wheel peripheryto form a let ter-receiving passage, said passage receiving a letter inflexed condition longitudinally between the wall and the wheelperiphery, a letter trough adjacent to the passage, and mechanism tocause the opening of any desired door simultaneously with the deliveryof each letter from the trough to the passa 'e. V

2. .A maildistributing machine comprising a frame, a carrier Wheelmounted upon This is i the frame for rotation in a horizontal plane, r

plane of the wheel periphery to form a 1ater-receiving passage, saidpassage receiving .aletter flexed 'condition' longitudinally between the'wall andthewheel periphery, a letter trough adjacent-to thepassageymechanism to cause the opening of any desired doorsimultaneously with the delivery of each letter from the trough to the,passage,

.a mailbox on the frame at the lower end of each chute, and meanstherein to stack the to the box with their address sides uppermost.

letters from the chute In testimony whereof we fixed our signatures.

JOSEPH MILLER.

have hereunto af-' HOWARD MILLER.

